The Hag Of The Old Religion
by heavenhell23
Summary: Merlin is captured by a mysterious old sorceress, after he is left behind by Arthur and the knights,first fanfiction,no idea where this is going,but R&R please!
1. Chapter 1

**Hey this is like,my first ever fan-fic totally loved reading everyone else's so I was inspired to do my own I guess,don't know how this'll turn out,but give it a try, its not like i'm JKR ;)**

They had been going for days, Merlin had no idea how much longer he and the knights could keep this up, eventually he pinned it down to Arthur's sheer determination to get the ordeal over with. They-the king-had been sent for by king Odith, something to do with a piece treaty, Merlin himself found this all very dull if he wasn't so set on protecting Arthur there would be no way he would of insisted on coming, but he was so, that was that in a nutshell.

Merlin was getting worried, it seemed they were running low on supplies, they only had two water skins left and a bag of food to share between Arthur, Merlin, Leon, Elyan, Gwaine, Percival and Lancelot, that was no where near enough for them to survive on for an extended period of time. Arthur must have noticed as he reassured them that there wasn't far to go.

Arthur heard an exasperated sigh, rolling his eyes, he turned automatically to Merlin, "what is it?" there was a trace of exasperation laced into his words, "nothing,it's just i'm not sure we have enough supplies to go on for another day" Merlin replied in a worried tone, Arthur cast a glance at what was left, "we won't have to wait another day Merlin, give it another hour and we'll be there".

* * *

They'd crossed the river two and a half hours ago on foot, that was, Arthur and the knights leaving Merlin to tend to there smelly,greedy,large transportation. Of course they had been travelling all day so by now, it was pitch black, and merlin was paranoid because to him every shadow was a threat, every rustle of the trees, every whisper in the wind, to him anything that moved in the darkness was a threat. Even the horses.

Closer, he could here it, it was faint at first but it seemed to be drawing nearer. Merlin bolted up right, slowly he scanned the space in front of him,nothing,wait to his left, there was something watching him, grabbing a stick and pulling himself up to a standing position he peered into the thick void of trees. Ouch, he didn't have time to react, he was **unconscious** before his head hit the ground.

"Merlin!?" where was he?Arthur and his men had left him here last night on there trip to king Odiths, he was sure it had been exactly here as the proof was the huddle of horses grazing the small patches of grass they had found.

"Maybe he just wondered off sire" Elyan said with a hopeful expression, but know they all knew Merlin wouldn't do that without good reason, Arthur shook his head in answer.

Arthur stood there analysing the situation for a moment before coming to a conclusion, "No,that isn't like him, I fear something bad has happened to him", Gwaine looked up in surprise "what makes you think that, princess", Arthur sighed, then replied "I don't know, was there blood on that bag before." Arthur pointed, and sure enough, (on the bag the servant had been using to rest his head the night before) was a crimson puddle sitting in the middle of it, Gwaine's only thoughts were _oh..._

* * *

Merlin woke to a terrifying cackle, the kind of cackle that Percival often told about in his stories, "Ahhhh I see you have awoken young warlock", the woman behind the cackle stepped out of the shadows she had been immersed in, as merlin tried to focus through the pain in his head, he saw that the woman resembled a raisin, dry, old, wrinkled yes, a raisin, she had no eyes and wore a long black fastened cloak, Merlin only had two words for this abomination, completely repulsive. She spoke again, this time in a sharper tone "I'm afraid, my sweet, that this is where you meet your end, I cannot a low you to bring about the fall of the old religion as I am sure you will, you _must_ die!" her eyes glowed a rich gold and suddenly merlin was paralysed, a shining metal object had risen before him and was now zooming at an accelerated rate, there was no time to stop it, it hit, at first it felt like a punch to the gut, then the real pain set in, it was like fire, a scream ripped from his body and he clutched his stomach, the agony ate at him, telling him to shut it out, the last thing he heard was a cackle...

* * *

She came out of nowhere, first a weird cackle then she was in front of them, Arthur stood face to face with the an old lady, who's breath could probably kill, by first glance she reminded Arthur of a, well a raisin. Arthur held his breathe then bellowed,

"STATE YOURSELF WOMAN!", as the woman had no eyes he couldn't see her expression but the hiss that escaped

from her mouth told him all he needed to know. He'd peeved her off, and she was having none of it,

"How DARE you, speak to a high priestess in such a disrespectful manner, foolish king!", He knew it. She was a sorceress, that meant she was probably responsible for Merlin's whereabouts, "WHERE IS HE!?" Arthur shouted,and as he did so, his hand instinctively went to the hilt of his sword. The sorceress merely chuckled in an amused manner,

before casually fading away into the shadows...

Ow, that hurt, the pain was excruciating, at least the old hag was gone, Merlin tried to sit up but the throbbing in his stomach left him lying there helplessly on what he'd gathered was a cave, stone and rock everywhere, _am I going to de here?_

He had to contact Arthur,_ but how? _Merlin pondered on this for a long time, trying with all he could, to suppress the pain by taking his mind off it. This strategy didn't last long however, as soon enough, Merlin was being reduced to a curled up ball. Just when the hope had started to flicker, he heard his name being called, before he had time to react, the darkness won, and he was sucked into oblivion...


	2. Chapter 2

**The second chapter to merlin,sorry it's been so long, I kinda just had things to do, but im back for a bit, im too good at procrastinating, I think that's the problem...**

Arthur woke, He'd had a horrible dream, he'd had to get somewhere, but he didn't know where, he could here screams in the distance but everything was pitch black and he was just running in the darkness trying to get closer to the cries of pain. Suddenly Arthur heard a pained groan to his right, It turned out that in his panic at waking up after the dream he'd accidentley kicked Leon who had been lying peacefully next to him.

Ever since Arthur and the knights had lost merlin they had been searching for his whereabouts, that had only been 24 hours ago, and they still had no idea, bit the cruel old hags chuckle still rang in Arthur's ears, witch only fueled his anger, and made him even more determined to find Merlin and the disgusting sorceress who took him. To Arthur it seemed that every step they got closer some kind of unusual beast would emerge from the woods, this was a good and bad thing, because on one hand they were getting closer but on the other hand, they could die. Arthur had figured that the old hag was sending these beasts after them to ward them off from Merlin's location, and the only way he knew this is because every time these creatures appeared, a familiar cackle could be heard, but his only question was, _why hadn't she finished him off already?_

Merlin had woken -god knows how long ago- to complete and utter agony. By now though he had found something to apply pressure to the wound, well, he actualy he just used the bottom of his shirt and tied it around his mid section to stop the bleeding. That felt like days ago now, Merlin was weak and he had no idea how much time had passed since he'd been left for dead in this cold, dank cave, he'd tried every spell he could think of to get himself out of the cave but nothing worked. Over tme he;d began wondering if he would die here, if Arthur and the knights would find him, or if they were even looking. _wait_, _if I send Arthur a message telepathically or show him the way like I did when he travelled to nimueh's cave, then maybe he could find me!_It was worth a shot, anything to get him out of here...

Underneath the earth in the heart of the woods there is the deepest hole ever created, a hole created with the strongest magic of the old religion, and inside this hole is the most deadly being that ever lived, and it is about to be reborn with the help of a rather bedraggled lady with the sunken features of a raisin and missing eyes, above this hole all the way back up to the surface of the earth but slap bang on top of this great evil being,lays a very powerful sorcerer trying to contact his king...


End file.
